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Walking down Main Street on the Kent Campus, you might notice the beauty of front campus, the Rock, budding trees, and the new business building. But what you might not realize is you would also be passing a world-class museum housed within historic Rockwell Hall.  

Enter Sarah Spinner Liska, J.D., Ph.D. A force of nature who is rethinking the vision of the Kent State University Museum by increasing student participation and programming and partnering with cultural influencers across the country to showcase the world-class collection that lives right here on the Kent Campus.  

She came to the museum in 2024, excited to take on the role. She was formerly the managing director of FRONT International, a region-wide contemporary art triennial, where she developed partnerships across Northeast Ohio, working closely with museums, universities, galleries, artists and funders. She also championed WAGE [Working Artists and the Greater Economy] certification and led an award-winning accessibility initiative to open art access to people of all abilities.

Originally from Canada, she grew up in a university town. “My parents worked at a university, and so having the opportunity to work here at Kent State feels like coming home,” she said.  

“I love museums and I love university campuses,” she said. “This job is the best of all worlds. It allows me to do really exciting work within a world-class museum, and it also allows me to work with an incredible team and have an enormous impact on students. We’re on a campus of 25,000 students, a third of whom are first-generation college students, and the opportunity to work with a student population, to work with faculty, to work at a public research university, nothing could be more exciting for me.”

A World-Class Museum

Founded 40 years ago, the Kent State University Museum houses a historic collection gifted by Shannon Rogers and Jerry Silverman, partners in Jerry Silverman, Inc., a manufacturer of better dresses on Seventh Avenue in New York City. They donated a collection of fashion, historic costumes, paintings and decorative arts, including 4,000 costumes and accessories, nearly 1,000 pieces of decorative art and a 5,000-volume reference library.  

The museum opened in 1985 in Rockwell Hall, the original University Library, which was renovated to meet the highest museum standards. Built in 1927, the building reflects Beaux Arts design elements, which were carefully restored under the supervision of Ted Curtis, former Kent State University architect, and the Cleveland architectural firm Whitley & Whitley. The Higbee Gallery showcases elements of the original building including the marble, woodwork and chandeliers.

The first floor showcases highlights from the museum's permanent collection of fashion and textile design in the Fashion Timeline. Throughout the year, the museum also presents special rotating exhibits. This spring, a new textile exhibition opened featuring the work of School of Art alumna, Hildur Ásgeirsdóttir Jónsson, which depicts the natural world of her native Iceland, curated by Sara Hume, Ph.D.

“You’re going to see double rainbows, pink sunsets, endless and vast landscapes: it’s a beautiful exhibition,” Spinner Liska said.

There is also an exhibit focused on Katherine Hepburn with clothing from her estate on display.  

“We have her clothing and costumes from film and television. Our collections manager and registrar, Joanne Fenn, curated a beautiful exhibition showcasing Katherine Hepburn’s iconic style and her favorite designers, which will be on view through September,” Spinner Liska said. “[The] exhibit also showcases some of her personal style, including garments she would wear at home. In that sense, she was very much an icon and also a rebel, challenging what women wear and how we wear it. She often wore loose button-down shirts paired with khakis, and those are also on view in the exhibition we have up right now.”

But it’s not just the exhibits that bring life to the museum, it’s also the community on the campus itself, the fact that it’s attached to the School of Fashion, and that students and faculty are integral to the operation. And the reach that the museum has across the region and nationally through events and partnerships is part of what makes it one of the top fashion museums in the country.  

“I’m excited to have the opportunity to work with faculty and students in classes to really explore our historic collection and see how it might connect to their curricula and advance experiential learning on campus. And I’m also extraordinarily excited to welcome the broader public to the museum. As a world-class museum, we serve people not only in Kent, but across the region and in fact across the country and around the world. People travel from all over to view our collection, and that’s something that I think many people don’t realize,” Spinner Liska said.  

A Student-Focused Vision

Spinner Liska describes her vision as “student-focused” and wants to ensure that programming at the museum is something that will attract students.  

Some fashion students utilize the museum’s collection for their research and academic work, such as a student who recently made a research appointment to look at objects from the collection to advance her thesis. Students have worked with museum staff on the restoration of historic gowns. Spinner Liska also started a monthly programming series on sustainability and fashion, which is led by students.  

Lucia Perry, a senior fashion merchandising student, who recently presented as part of that series on sustainability in the bridal industry, now works as a special assistant to Spinner Liska. 

“The museum is a space for inspiration for fashion students,” Perry said. “Whether drawing ideas from the collections and exhibitions on display or scheduling time to explore the archives for in-depth research on specific pieces, the museum provides countless opportunities to grow and expand students’ knowledge. It’s a place where we can deepen our understanding of fashion history, art, and textile work far beyond the classroom.”

A new focus on topics and events that interest students has also increased participation and opportunities.  

“My vision for the museum, which is really a student-inspired vision, is focused around the values of inclusivity and sustainability,” Spinner Liska said. “Those have been the values around which we’ve been working to create programming and exhibitions here at the museum. Whenever I’m asked what my message is for students and for the public, I always say 'Museums are for everyone, and great fashion is everywhere.' I’m so excited to share that message because I truly believe it.”

At an event earlier this spring semester, an alumnus visited the museum to speak about adaptive fashion and her work with big brands on creating more fashion designed with people with disabilities in mind. Tracy Vollbrecht, a graduate from 2018, works as an adaptive fashion consultant in California.  She shared that when she was studying in the School of Fashion, she attended an exhibit at the museum called “Disabled Beauty” about adaptive fashion. As she walked through the exhibit, she thought of her father who had passed away from multiple sclerosis and how she might have been able to help him more had she known about adaptive fashion. She said it was that moment that sparked her journey into her career.  

“That felt extraordinarily special to me because in museum work, when you’re open to the public and to a university community every day, sometimes you don’t know what your work inspires. But I think it’s incredibly powerful to know that our work here has inspired students, alumni, and faculty and visitors throughout our 40-year history,” Spinner Liska said.  

Perry has noticed that students from outside of fashion have also become more involved at the museum recently.  

“Since Dr. Sarah’s arrival at the museum, I’ve observed a steady and sustainable increase in student involvement. Initially, this growth in awareness primarily stemmed from the efforts and interest of School of Fashion students. Over time, however, this enthusiasm has expanded to include students from a variety of other majors. This broader reach is an encouraging sign of the museum’s potential to engage and unite the university community,” she said.

In contrast to the traditional exclusivity of museum openings, Spinner Liska now ensures that the student community is welcomed at the openings of new exhibitions, which gives them access to artists and members of the cultural community of Northeast Ohio, something that will help them hone skills in networking and seeing how the art world functions.  

“Each exhibition opening is accompanied by a welcome reception, where students are invited to connect with artists, museum visitors and fellow students,” Perry said. “These events are truly remarkable experiences, offering us the chance to witness the Kent community, and even individuals beyond it, coming together to celebrate art and culture.”

The museum also features the Dixie Lee Davis Store, which carries design work by students, as well, along with faculty and alumni.  

“Students are involved in every aspect of what we do,” Spinner Liska said. “We have students who work at the museum, they do curatorial work, they work on exhibit design, they work as gallery guards. They work in our store. We are lucky to have a small but incredible professional museum team, and then students play a really important part of it. Students also are at the center of my vision for museum programming.

“Over the past few months since I’ve been here, I’ve expanded student programs and community programs. Now throughout the year we offer student-led dialogues. We have student-run fashion shows that happen at the museum, and when I envision the future of the museum, students are at the very heart of it,” she said.

Thinking Big

Spinner Liska has been working across campus, as well as regionally and nationally, to bring programming and collaborations with the museum. A little-known fact is that there is a hidden Rembrandt painting displayed behind a sliding wooden door, but she has bigger plans to unveil it.   

“We’re really lucky to have a beautiful Rembrandt etching in the museum collection, which is called “The Goldsmith.” And, one of the exciting projects that the museum team will be working on this year is partnering with the Liquid Crystal Institute to create a new display for our Rembrandt. The Rembrandt is very sensitive to light, and so many people don’t notice it in our museum because it’s covered by a panel to protect it from the light.”

She met an alumnus who mentioned the Liquid Crystal Institute and the history of liquid crystal displays at Kent State and they wondered if there would be interest in a partnership to unveil the painting so it could be visible, but also protected from the light.  

“I’m really excited about this collaboration with Liquid Crystals. We visited their labs last week. They’re working on creating the display, and we can’t wait to showcase our beautiful Rembrandt now to all our visitors,” she said.  

The museum holds a space suit that was worn by a Kent State alumnus to the International Space Station. The museum will be working on an installation of the space suit in the physics department along with a program with NASA to accompany the installation.  

She mentions a potential partnership with the Cleveland Museum of Natural History in their new space, as well as a collaboration with the LeRoy Neiman and Janet Byrne  Neiman Foundation in New York City to showcase Neiman’s fashion illustrations in an upcoming exhibition.

 For the many who were entranced by the new movie "Wicked" and can’t wait for Part Two, the museum is hoping to welcome the lead costume designer from the movie next year.    

“We're in the middle of planning a robust and exciting calendar of student and public programming for the year. One of the programs that we're really excited about is the possibility of welcoming Paul Tazewell, who you may know as the recent Oscar winner for best costume design. He was the costume designer for "Hamilton" and for "Wicked", and we would be thrilled to welcome him here to the Kent State University Museum next fall in collaboration with the School of Theater and the School of Fashion,” she said. 

But maybe the most surprising pairing that Spinner Liska is working on is between football and fashion.

"We're excited to think about how we showcase sports and fashion here at the museum. I came across an article in The New York Times about the NFL's new fashion editor, Kyle Smith," she said. "Kyle said that the most fashionable team in the NFL right now is the Cleveland Browns. He said, you might think it would be a team in Miami or New York or LA, but it's actually the Cleveland Browns."

This sparked an interest in exploring opportunities with Smith to feature the Cleveland Browns and men's fashion across the NFL, as part of a broader effort to showcase the universality of great fashion. 

Excitement for the Future

Whether it’s fashion students working on the restoration of historic dresses, programs on sustainability in fashion or adaptive design, or visits from world-renowned artists, there is always something vibrant happening at the Kent State Museum. And the impact Spinner Liska is having in her tenure as museum director is already visible, especially in her work with students.  

“Dr. Sarah is truly one of a kind," Perry said. "I’ve thoroughly enjoyed collaborating with her on countless projects and museum events, all brought to life with the help of the museum’s incredible staff. Her positive attitude, bold work ethic and signature pink pumps make her an inspiring leader and a woman I deeply admire."

The regional arts community is also recognizing Spinner Liska and the impact of her work. It was just announced that she will be receiving the 2025 Artist Empowerment Award from Summit ArtSpace, which is awarded to an “artist advocate that/who uses their voice and platform to challenge traditional notions about who can become a practicing artist, and how. Nominees exemplify the breadth and depth of our communities, inspire and facilitate change, and help create and strengthen inclusive artist-centered connections and spaces.” This award follows Spinner Liska’s recognition last year as the Ohio Museums Association “Professional of the Year.”  

It’s clear by talking to her just how passionately and seriously she takes her work and cares about the arts community, the university community and also demonstrating that museums should include everyone.  

The museum is open six days a week and welcomes visitors not only from the university community, but the general public. Anyone who has a Kent State ID gets in free.  

“I’m extraordinarily excited about the future of the museum,” she said. “We’re really at an inflection point here in our history. It’s our 40th anniversary, and I can feel so much excitement around the role of the museum and its potential to serve as a resource and a platform for creativity and empowerment on this campus. We’re in the middle of developing so many exciting programs, national collaborations and student-led activities, as well as a new student workshop space that will be opening up this year. I’m very excited for all that’s to come.”